Finland approaches 1,000 coronavirus infections

In Finland the number of infected people with coronavirus (koronavirus, in Finnish) continues to rise and is already close to a thousand.

According to the latest figures published by the National Institute for Health and Wealth (THL, in its Finnish acronym), 958 laboratory-confirmed cases of Covid-19 have been reported from the hospital districts. This is 78 cases more than 24 hours before.

There are currently 96 patients requiring hospitalization (14 more than the previous day), 24 of whom are in intensive care (2 more than on Wednesday).

Two more deaths

Two more deaths were reported on Thursday morning, one of them in Helsinki and one in Lahti Central Hospital, bringing the number of fatalities recorded by different hospital districts to five (three in Helsinki, one in Lahti and one in Hämeenlinna Central Hospital).

However, at 15:15 in the afternoon THL only counted four deaths in its daily update on the situation in Finland. The health agency and the hospital districts refuse to disclose some essential data for monitoring the progress of the epidemic, such as the age and gender of those deceased.

The map shows the number of cases reported in each hospital district per 100,000 inhabitants. Source: THL.

Increasing percentage of women

The Registry of Communicable Diseases has been notified so far 894 cases. Of them, 54% are men and 46% women.

These rates have changed in the last 24 hours and now there is a higher percentage of women infected. Until now, the infection rates had been 61% for men and 39% for women.

Several people have already recovered after receiving hospital care, but the health authorities did not disclose the figures.

So far, in Finland 16,000 Covid-19 tests have been carried out.

THL admits the actual number of infections is likely to be much higher than reported because most people with mild symptoms are just advised to stay at home. Only those with severe respiratory symptoms are tested.